After a lot of work we're excited to bring you a special new episode of The Elephant that travels through space and time to ask one of the most fundamental questions you could ask of our rapidly changing world today - how did we end up here?

Look pretty much anywhere on our planet and it’s clear that human beings are having an outsized impact on the Earth. And it’s not just with climate change. There’s our enormous land footprint, our rapidly growing numbers, our thirst for resources, and the vast quantities of waste we produce every year.

But how did homo sapiens go from a species that had only minor numbers in parts of Africa, to one that is spread across the entire world with 7 billion people, and whose consumption patterns have become so voracious that we’re now threatening the very stability of the planet we depend on?

In this special episode of The Elephant we go on a journey from the dawn of Earth to the 21st century to find out: how did our species end up here? Listen above, or subscribe in iTunes.

Episode made possible with funding from Climate-KIC. Climate-KIC is Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate change, consisting of dynamic companies, the best academic institutions and the public sector.

We've been hard at work on a special season two episode of The Elephant, and in advance of the release we've put together a special video trailer.

In late 1968, with the Apollo 8 mission, astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders became the first human beings ever to leave Earth's orbit and head to another celestial body. But despite travelling some 200,000 miles and reaching the orbit of the moon, in the end it wasn't the images of the new frontiers that had the most lasting impact, but the view of back home.

Below is a short film meditation on the famous Earthrise photo - the first photo of the whole earth ever taken by humans. Featuring Apollo 8 Astronaut Jim Lovell, and footage from the Apollo missions, and was made by Jim Elson. Enjoy!

Conservatives, especially in America, are known for doubting the science of climate change. But earlier this February something rather surprising happened - several elder Republican statesmen released a proposal for what they call a Conservative solution to climate change.

The plan consists primarily of a carbon tax, something that many progressives have long advocated for. But controversially for Democrats, the proposal also calls for repealing more intricate climate regulations such as the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.

At this time when by all signs it seems like the divide between Republicans and Democrats is wider than ever, can Conservatives and Progressives in America ever find common ground when it comes to climate change? Radio producer Barbara Lucas investigates...

March 8th marks international women's day, an annual celebration of the achievements of women across the globe. And this year’s campaign is: Be Bold For Change.

To discuss climate change and equality, and how it intersects with the role of women worldwide, our new Elephant producer and co-host Charlotta Lomas spoke with a woman who has herself been bold for change - Mary Robinson who was the first female President of Ireland from 1990-1997. She now leads the Mary Robinson Foundation: which is devoted to climate justice and she is also the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate Change. We reached Mary Robinson by phone in Dublin.
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Custom Artwork by Krista Lai

The Elephant has been in Marrakech Morocco the past week for COP 22. And on Friday, on the last day of the conference, we caught up with a few youth groups from around the world to find out what motivated them to come to the talks, their views as young climate activists, and how they feel about the future in a world grappling with climate change.

Donald Trump's election sent shockwaves around the world - particularly within the climate community. Trump has long denied that climate change even exists and has vowed to roll back all federal action. So what should those of us who actually care about reality do next?

We caught up with activist and campaigner Nicolas Haeringer, of 350.org, in Marrakech to get his thoughts on where the climate movement goes from here, and what lessons we can draw from Trump's shocking win.

​When humanity first travelled into space, it didn’t just mean exploring new worlds and frontiers, it also meant for the first time seeing our home planet in an entirely new light. What from the ground seemed infinite and indestructible - something that we could never impact -from space suddenly appeared finite and fragile.
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When it comes to truly understanding that blue marble we all call home, few people can claim as much insight as Piers Sellers. Not only as an astronaut did Piers get the chance to witness Earth from that ultimate bird’s eye view, but now as the division director of NASA's Earth Sciences department, he oversees the work of 1600 scientists tasked with understanding how the natural systems of our planet operate, and how they’re changing because of humanity's collective impact.

In this special Season 1 Finale of The Elephant, we speak with Piers Sellers about his experiences as an astronaut and what it was like to view earth from space, the exciting new science of understanding the earth’s natural systems, and why despite the serious work ahead, he’s optimistic humanity will be able to overcome the challenge posed by climate change.

The Greenland ice-sheet is massive. So massive that if it were to melt completely, global sea-levels would rise by more than 6 meters. So if we're to successfully adapt to the challenges that climate change is going to bring about, it's critical that scientists understand how the ice-sheet is changing because of the extra heat our emissions have been trapping in the atmosphere.

Liam Colgan is a glaciologist and professor at York University who specifically studies the Greenland ice-sheet, and we managed to get a hold of him by satellite phone while he was in Greenland on a 36 day research expedition led by NASA. In our conversation with Liam, we learn how the nature of the Greenland ice sheet is changing due to climate change, why it matters, and what it's like to do research in such an extreme environment.

Listen to our episode about the science behind the Greenland Ice Sheet here, or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes.

​For decades famed linguist Noam Chomsky has been one of the most important political dissidents and intellectuals in the world. Now in an exclusive new interview with The Elephant, Chomsky reflects on the incredible period in human history we find ourselves in, one in which we are making decisions that will be felt for generations to come. He points out the remarkable fact that the political and economic systems we've set up, put considerations of short-term profits ahead of the very future of our species.

In our conversation, Noam Chomsky also shares his thoughts on the 2016 U.S. presidential election, what he thinks of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and why advertising has a tremendously distorting effect on our society.

​The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is at this moment suffering from what is the most devastating bleaching event in recorded history, with 93% of its reefs experiencing at least some degree of bleaching. Many of these reefs will be killed permanently, and similar damage is occurring to countless other coral reef systems around the world.

And the culprit? Human caused climate change, which is increasing the temperatures of the oceans worldwide. Scientists have long warned that the mass-bleaching of coral reefs would be one of the first tipping points of climate change, and sadly we're now seeing those warnings come true.

We called up professor Justin Marshall, a coral reef expert who has been studying these ecosystems for over three decades, to learn about the damage being done, why it matters, and why our only hope for saving these wonderfully diverse eco-systems is to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.

The Occupy movement of 2011, which started in New York City before quickly spreading to hundreds of cities around the world, was one of the most successful - and energizing - activist moments of the last few decades. Not only did Occupy change the discourse, and raise the issue of income inequality world-wide, but it also galvanized a new generation of activists.

But its co-founder, Micah White, considers Occupy a 'constructive failure', one however that that has important lessons for those of us interesting in creating social change - especially those of us working on climate change.

In our interview with Micah, we talk about the story behind how Occupy Wall Street started, the future of protest, and how in his view, activists need new strategies - and new tactics - in order to bring about the social change that our world so badly needs.

​Toronto is Canada's biggest city, and it also happens to be one of the country's biggest successes when it comes to acting on climate. While the average emissions for Canada have kept climbing, Toronto has managed to not only meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gases, but exceed them by more than double - all this while steadily growing as a city.

David Miller was the mayor of Toronto from 2003 until 2010 (before being succeeded by a rather more infamous Toronto mayor that you may have heard about), and for the last two years in office Miller was also the chair of the C40 - The Cities Climate Leadership Group. But really throughout his two terms as Mayor, David Miller made environmental sustainability a key focus of his leadership.

During our time in Paris we had the chance to catch up with David Miller to ask him about the policies Toronto put in place to meet its emissions cuts, what some of the challenges were to implementing them, and a bit about his current work for WWF Canada.

How our cities are run and designed can have a huge impact on the carbon footprint we have as individuals. Is there convenient and affordable transit available for example? Or are the buildings heated and cooled efficiently? But fortunately cities around the world are increasingly making their planning decisions with climate emissions in mind. In fact, actions by cities have been a rare bright spot in an otherwise mostly stagnant decade when it comes to climate action.

The C40 is a network made up of some of the world's biggest cities who together are working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The C40's executive director is Mark Watts, and during COP 21 we sat down with him to hear about some of the ways that cities are leading the way on climate.

If you care about climate change, then it's hard to imagine a more turbulent and consequential couple of weeks on the U.S. supreme court than the ones we've just had.

First, in a surprise decision the court issued a stay against the EPA's Clean Power Plan - dealing a devastating blow to the U.S.'s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. And then just a few days after that ruling, Antonin Scalia, one of the 5 conservative justices who voted for the stay - and one of the justices most consistently opposed to environmental regulations - died at age 79. Scalia's death unleashes a battle over the future of the court of the type we haven't seen in decades. And the implications couldn't be bigger, literally impacting the future temperatures of the planet.